I may be traveling to Zambia in June, and I have learned more than I ever wanted to know about the necessity of taking medication to prevent malaria in the event that I am bitten by a carrier mosquito. My question is, what is the best way to avoid mosquito bites in the first place? DEET and other repellents don’t seem to be 100% effective, and they can’t be counted on to last throughout the night, when the mosquitos are most active. (The repellents also seem to have potential side effects, as do the preventive medications.) Is it safe to burn mosquito coils in closed spaces, like tents or lodge rooms? If you leave a candle burning in a corner, will it attract mosquitos to the flame (and away from you)? Is there some other attractant that might draw the bugs away from wherever I am? I’ll take the pills, but I’d feel safer if they weren’t my only defense.
Don’t be a fraidy cat. The medicine is fine.
However, having a fan blowing on you helps, as mosquitos don’t like swiftly moving air. Forget candles, the bad guys could care less and it’s a fire hazard. Trading that way a miniscule risk of malarial infection for a much higher risk of toasting yourself. Some Off or something along those lines may also help. Side effects are better than malaria and in anycase, a mere month of exposure is nothing.
I’ve spent more than 6 years in malarious parts of Africa and never had malaria. Collounsbury is correct.
In addition to taking an appropriate chemoprophylactic agent, you would do well to avoid exposure to mosquitoes in the evening. This means staying inside screened buildings when the sun goes down or, if you go out, wearing some combination of clothing and insect repellent that protects all your exposed skin.
You don’t need to use mosquito coils in your bedroom or wear insect repellent to bed if you sleep under a good bed net. If your bedroom is adequately screened, and has either a fan or A/C, you don’t need a bed net.
Of course with AC you may run the risk of going overboard and freezing your ass and getting a nasty cold for it… Of course, I never did that…
*Ah yes, I did leave out a nice compact mosquito net for the bed.
You already know the most important tip - not being bitten.
If inside, a combination of AC and mosquito nets works just fine. If you must go outdoors, long sleeved shirt, long pants and don’t drink - the alochol evapopates throught the skin and you smell real nice to any passing mossies.
see
http://www.anytestkits.com/malaria-prevention.htm
dest.travelocity.com/Tips/Item/0,3295,207_TRAVELOCITY,00.html
Oh come on, the poor bastard is going to miss all the fun is he takes this advice. What’s the point of Africa if you don’t go outside?!
Take your pills, use a fan and a net and don’t worry too much and most of have fun.
6 words:
Bed nets, Bed nets, Bed nets.
Take ALLyour medication, start when the doctor tells you, and CONTINUE 'till you are supposed to stop (this usually means several weeks after you return). Use DEET, those touchy-feely natural organic pseudo-repellants you see in stores are no good.
Also, try and put SCREENS on your windows.
I am getting a PhD in medical entomology, this is good advice 
MM
Well, some good advice is already given here.
One advice, I would give is wear trekking boots, with DEET applied on the legs since the mosquito bites in the ankle.
Another - from own experience, if you get a chemoprofylaxis
as Lariam, start some week before. I went crazy (hart problems) from the side effect,and had to change to other medication.
[ol]
[li]Don’t go to the tropics.[/li][li]If you must go to the tropics, take quinine. (one tablet per week for 3 weeks prior to leaving, while you’re there, and for 10 weeks afterwards)[/li][li]If you take quinine BUY THE COATED CAPLETS.[/li][/ol]
I went on a caving expedition to Costa Rica back in '89 and we all took quinine. Not until I arrived in country did I find out you could get coated quinine tablets. Quinine has got to be the worst tasting stuff I have every put in my mouth. I always threw the damned things into the back of my throat and then chugged a big glass of Pepsi. The next to last week, the previous four months of bouncing around had weakened the tablets, and when I threw one in, it EXPLODED into hundreds of tiny pieces, increasing the surface area dramatically. I though my tongue was going to turn black and rot out of my mouth. Ughhhh. BUY THE COATED CAPLETS.
Oh bother, it’s not that bad. I’m not dead yet. My god people.
No, go to your doctor, ignore any and all advice here, and find out if Zambia has resistant malarial strains. I believe it does, in which case quinine isn’t the thing. If so, take what he prescribes.
Damn, are Americans really so afraid of tropical travel?
I’m not dead either, but I know (knew) two people who contracted Cerebral Malaria. Why did they get it? Going outside in the early evening wearing shorts and T-shirts and drinking beer. Fell asleep. A year later, both dead.
Going outside is fine, but cover up in the evenings and be sober enough to make sure that net is in place when you fall asleep.
And see a dodtor and follow HER advice and not mine.
ps I’m not American and not afraid of the tropics, but I prefer sensible caution to possible death.
Government Websites on Malaria in Zambia
http://www.dfat.gov.au/zw-cgi/view/Advice/Zambia
http://www.fitfortravel.scot.nhs.uk/Country/Zambia.html
http://www.fco.gov.uk/travel/countryadvice.asp?ZA
Others
http://www.4globetrotters.com/ta/ad/zambia.htm
http://www.mbendi.co.za/land/af/za/p0005.htm
http://www.mckinley.uiuc.edu/health-info/dis-cond/vacimmun/malaria.html
…At least, these pertain to the American mosquitoes. There may be some differences betwixt the species.
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Don’t get bit. Simple enough, in theory.
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Don’t wear cologne or perfume. I’ve read that the odor attracts mosquitoes.
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Don’t eat bananas. Mosquitoes prefer to bite you after you have eaten a banana, or so I have read.
One more point about the mosquito nets. The mosquitos in Africa (at least where I’ve been) are really tiny, you can hardly see or feel them. Often the mosquito nets you buy in N.America are designed for the larger N.American mosquitos and as such the holes are too big.